The Omicron variant

I think you need to adjust your sarcasm sensor there Jimbob, I suspect Ha Long Bay was making the same point as you.

More of the usual nonsense. If pubs close 3 hours earlier then that is 3 hours less to spread Covid.

The lack of other health care is caused by the the volume of Covid patients, that is why pubs have to close early, so why are you complaining about it.

With only 151 confirmed GS cases?

Other EU countries have a harder time than us, while we discuss virus knowing the time of day?

According to the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/dec/17/covid-news-live-g7-calls-omicron-biggest-threat-to-global-health-unvaccinated-face-winter-of-severe-illness-and-death-biden-warns

They do understand it, it just suits them to repeat the same old nonsense.

Quite simply, anyone who complains about measures to reduce Covid and simultaneously talks about the problems treating other diseases is not making a serious point but is just spouting. And it is an extraordinarily callous thing to do.

Is that the best you can do?

Nobody said that, it's the usual line trotted out in response to a timed restriction.

If people spend less time in an environment, they have less risk of catching covid.

Your reply will be that it will cause house parties, yes it may, however, if 100 people go to the pub, the same 100 people will not all attend the same house party afterwards.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with pubs having to close early, I'm just sick of people who can't understand risk over time exposure etc...

We have the same in everyday life, ok for an 18 year old to drink on his birthday but not 1 day beforehand, same for driving, 1 km over the speed limit is dangerous, but 1 under isn't, 15 mins on a sunbed, a certain number of xrays a year etc.... and on and on.

This is the type of infantile attitude that a lot of people have. Frankly, its why we end up with restrictions in the first place.

Its the type of person who has little emotional intelligence to understand the basic salient points of any given situation.

We are all sick of covid, we are all sick of restrictions, we are all sick of people losing jobs but this type of argument is akin to spoilt child territory.

The government need to divert funds from other public sectors to Health and create capacity. When covid cases are low, open the country fully. When a wave is on the horizon, lock up shop. Thats what living with covid should be in the short term.

Let's hope Omicron and future variants are not as severe. Let's hope we don't need another 15 jabs.

Keep doing the basics, if you don't, you are part of the problem and have no right to complain.

See it’s the dying part that most people have an issue with. Not necessarily as a direct result of Covid, more it’s effect on our health service and the provision of treatments for other illnesses.

But carry on, it’s only been explained a million times.

They just started giving those most at risk the booster 2 weeks ago. 🤦‍♂️

I'd be cautiously optimistic for Ireland.

I think the wall of vaccination will hold combined with the current mindset of the populous.

It will be a tough Christmas for many, with a few hairy moments for the health service, I also think the majority of primary school kids may not see the inside of a classroom until Feb at least.

But IMHO we will fair much better than other places in Europe.

Another incredibly interesting study has emerged re: the severity of omicron. It once again points to a milder variant, less effective at infecting cells.

https://www.citiid.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FIGURES-OMICRON-PAPER.pdf

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron spike mediated immune escape, infectivity and cell-cell fusion

“Importantly, fusogenicity of the Omicron spike is significantly impaired, leading to marked reduction in syncitia formation. These observations highlight that Omicron has gained immune evasion properties whilst compromising on properties associated with replication and pathogenicity.”

I dunno did anyone share this already..but hospital age comparison Vs other waves in South Africa. The only thing is they had rougher delta waves compared to ours with low vacine take up increasing as the wave progressed. Different situation to us, so the difference between orange and grey bars may not hold true here but of course it could with progress of boosters in key groups in the population.

Interested to see why cases in Gauteng have flattened of ..is it backlog or test capacity or is true on the ground.

Except it does the exact opposite.

When Pubs had a closing time it always ends in a rush for the last hour. That used to be the way when we had early closing on a Sunday night, the 8pm close will have the same effect.

Anyway, it's still a waste of time when we have open boarders with the UK where they give the 2 fingers to this whole aspect of isolation and mask wearing